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COWES
WEEK PREVIEW
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HOW TO WIN COWES WEEK 10 TOP TIPS
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F50 foiling catamarans on the Solent
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10 WAYS TO WIN
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Yachts & Yachting COWES WEEK PREVIEW 2019
COWES WEEK RUPERT HOLMES looks at changes for this
year’s Cowes Week, from 10-17 August, and how to achieve the best results
August 2019 Yachts & Yachting
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COWES WEEK PREVIEW
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W
ALL PHOTOS: ED WHITING/FROM THE BLUE
inning your class at Cowes Week remains a considerable achievement, but the prospect of this is by no means the only factor that attracts competitors. Cowes Week director Laurence Mead says the event should be “Corinthian, inclusive, international, fun, sociable, world-class racing” and he identifies nine key “ethoses” for the event. Among these is the belief that a win at Cowes Week should remain a pinnacle of anyone’s season – the regatta should be competitive and hard-fought. At the same time the wind angle variety will always be a key element of this multi-class Solent event and under Mead’s leadership additional effort is going into improving course-setting.
Mead was a sailmaker before an international corporate career and his extensive time on the water has encompassed championships ranging from 505s and Etchells to the Admiral’s Cup and more. He describes himself as a traditionalist and says: “I want the cannons going at the Castle, I want all the boats finishing off the green with spinnakers up...Cowes Week should be something different. It shouldn’t be windward-leewards, it shouldn’t be easy racing. It’s meant to test all the skills. Like with short-handed racing, you should come back at the end of the week having done everything: beating against the tide along the beach,
Above The J/70s will continue to enjoy windwardleeward courses Left Cowes Week director Laurence Mead
running against the tide, running with the tide, running starts, everything.” Nevertheless, classes such as J/70s and SB20s, which have for many years enjoyed an element of windwardleeward racing, will continue to do so. “We’re saying to them, if you’ve got a big enough fleet, and you’ve got a specialist enough boat, like a J70, we will try to adapt around you a little bit, and you adapt around us a little bit,” says Mead. “For example, we will start the J/70s at the Royal Yacht Squadron and they will race to the Hillhead plateau [east of Brambles Bank], then have a windwardleeward, and then back to Cowes.”
10 WAYS TO WIN COWES WEEK 1. DAILY PREPARATION With Cowes Week also being a big event for partying it can be tempting to take a slightly casual approach to the racing. However, that will never get you to the head of the fleet – the top teams always do everything correctly, from the moment they wake up until the time they have signed off, packed the boat up and repaired any damage. Equally, before the first day, read the Sailing Instructions and check each others’ understanding. The same applies to exclusion zones, the penalty system and the procedure for general recalls. At the start of every day it makes sense if each person has the same job. This makes the tasks, even those as mundane as collecting lunch, easier to manage. This in turn means there’s more time available to analyse the
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Yachts & Yachting COWES WEEK PREVIEW 2019
The Cowes Week points series now runs for only
that have completed the Fastnet and made a
seven days, Saturday 10 August to Friday 16 August, with a prizegiving that evening. Racing continues on Saturday 17 August for the Cowes Town Regatta and your entry fee covers this racing as well, which has a separate prizegiving on the Saturday evening. There are no Red Arrows this year as the team is in the USA, but the RAF Typhoons will fly a demonstration at 1945 and the fireworks will round off the evening at 2130. For the first time ever, the Rolex Fastnet Race is taking place before Cowes Week. Although the offshore event starts on the Saturday (rather than the usual Sunday), in recognition that it’s a tight window to return to the Solent after the prizegiving in Plymouth and convert a boat back to inshore racing mode, boats
genuine effort to return can ask for average points on the opening day of Cowes Week. Also new this year is a GRP Classics class, recognising that it’s often difficult for older boats to compete with newer designs when racing inshore under IRC. For this year it’s for yachts designed before 1974, though Mead is looking at introducing a class next year for boats designed between 1975 and 1983. Multihulls will also return to the event after an absence of several years. At the time of writing 10 Diam 24s are expected, along with around half a dozen MOCRA entries. The opening weekend will see a SailGP series event - see p28.
PHOTOS: PAUL WYETH/COWES WEEK; ALEX IRWIN/SPORTOGRAPHY.TV; INGRID ABERY
KEY CHANGES FOR 2019
weather and to understand exactly where you are in the tidal flow sequence and how that will evolve. 2. ON THE WATER Everyone talks about the importance of getting the basics right, but it’s easy to be complacent and few boats get everything spot on. For a start, don’t try to skipper the boat or navigate
from the helm – it’s impossible for one person to do both jobs effectively. It’s also really important to triple check the course and make this a collective responsibility. It should be written down in several places, rather than depending on a single piece of paper that could get blown away. It’s well worth getting out 45 minutes early to watch for wind changes, trying to identify
patterns. This also gives a chance to practise manoeuvres and confirm the boat is correctly set up. 3. STARTS While the race officers try to organise as many fixed-line starts as possible, with racing from a committee boat the challenges are very different and Cowes Week starts take more evaluation and
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constant vigilance as the tide changes around the Solent. It’s worth studying starts before yours, from a distance, before your own start line preparation, in the final 10-minute sequence. Providing you are able to keep clear of others, try practice starts by following other fleets. Aim to get good transits for your chosen spot on the line and to make timed runs. This is particularly useful for downwind starts, where it’s easy to be too conservative and therefore very late. 4. ON THE COURSE With typical Cowes Week courses the next leg is always more complex than in your average windward-leeward race, so it’s vital to think one leg ahead. For example you need to know how you will get up the next beat well before you get to the leeward mark. For those not familiar with racing in the Solent, tidal strategy is always more important than wind strategy. Equally, the side on which the spinnaker is best hoisted at the end of an upwind leg may not be immediately obvious in advance.
seen at the start of the leg, the optimum course keeps it stationary against the background, on a transit. If it can’t be seen, boats using GPS can compare the COG data with the bearing to the mark. For those without GPS, use a hand-bearing compass to keep the mark you’ve just rounded on a back-bearing that leads you to the next mark. The Buoy Racer chart from Winning Tides is pre-marked with these bearings. In both cases, as soon as you have a visual identification of the mark ahead, again steer to a transit, keeping it
PHOTOS: PAUL WYETH/LENDY COWES WEEK; ALEX IRWIN/SPORTOGRAPHY.TV; INGRID ABERY
5. CROSS-TIDE REACHING LEGS These are a common feature of Cowes Week courses, yet many boats fail to take an optimal straight line course to the next mark, which hands opportunities to competitors further down the fleet – in a big fleet there are occasions in which boats can gain as many as 20 places. If the mark can be
Use a hand-bearing compass to keep the mark you’ve just rounded on a back-bearing
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Yachts & Yachting COWES WEEK PREVIEW 2019
Above Tidal strategy is often more important than wind strategy at Cowes Week Below Entertainment ashore is never in short supply
stationary against the shoreline beyond. Whether or not to hoist a spinnaker for part of the leg can be a difficult decision if there’s no chance of holding it for the entire leg. After rounding the windward mark, the leaders may need to sail a little high to protect their wind, which points towards a late hoist, carrying the sail into the mark. On the other hand a mid-fleet boat may choose an early hoist if it enables them to sail a lower course in clear air. If two-sail reaching, the headsail should be sheeted as far outboard as possible to reduce twist, while the main should be fully powered up, with backstay and outhaul eased, but enough vang tension to keep the top batten just out to leeward of the boom. 6. LEEWARD DOWNTIDE MARK ROUNDINGS A late spinnaker drop downtide is not just simply a case of losing one boat length – to regain that distance against the stream takes a lot of time. It’s important to get the kite down early and make a clean rounding. A common mistake is to use the visual distance to the mark to call the drop, but for classes that are allowed instruments, the GPS ‘time to waypoint’ function gives a much more accurate indication of the time left. In both cases an early drop will result in minimal time lost, whereas a late one can easily cost many boat lengths. 7. SITUATIONAL AWARENESS Given that Cowes Week racing is more complex than short windward-leeward courses, more head-out-of-the-boat
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time is required. Keep checking the horizon to look for big wind changes, converging fleets and shipping bound in or out of Southampton. If there is going to be a problem you should be able to spot it at least 15 minutes early and position the boat to minimise any ground lost. Keeping your head up is equally important simply so that know where you are, as being able to continuously identify your position on a chart is an important skill for racing in the Solent – it’s worth practising this to build your skills in this area. 8. MANAGING RISK It’s important to be able to identify which opportunities are high-risk and should be ignored – a single high-stakes move can ruin your series score. It’s often said that winning at Cowes involves luck, yet the same names keep rising to the top of their fleets. The more you can manage and defend against risks and the more you can identify low-risk advantages, the less luck plays a part. Also watch for habitual aggressors – they rarely score well in series results, but can spoil your day and therefore your chances of an overall win. Risk management is also important when sailing close to shore, seeking relief from an adverse tide – failing to stay afloat is never fast and risks serious damage.
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Yachts & Yachting COWES WEEK PREVIEW 2019
Right A Cowes Week win is a pinnacle of anyone’s season Below SailGP comes to Cowes Week for the opening weekend – see overleaf
PHOTOS: PAUL WYETH/LENDY COWES WEEK; ALEX IRWIN/SPORTOGRAPHY.TV; INGRID ABERY; SAILGP
COWES WEEK PREVIEW
If possible, it’s worth walking the shore to the west of the Royal Yacht Squadron at low water springs to identify the dangers. Remember that the Isle of Wight shore tends to be rocky, while the north shore is predominately sand, gravel or mud, which may be more forgiving in the event of a grounding. 9. NEVER GIVE UP The old cliché that it’s never over until the finish is particularly apt in Cowes Week. Many races are decided in the final mile, especially if the finish line is approached from the east and you have to negotiate the notorious
Norris Nadgers – the turbulent wind off the high ground east of the river Medina. In addition, many teams start to flag in the closing stages of a long race, which hands an opportunity to those who are able to remain sharp. 10. PACE YOURSELF This is a long regatta. For many people the apres-sail activities are just as important as the racing, but from a purely racing point of view, over indulgence is rarely helplful and the exuberant celebration of a race win more often than not leads to a disappointing result the following day that may spoil your chances of overall success.
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11/07/2019 12:05
COWES WEEK PREVIEW
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SAILGP IN THE SOLENT After stunning regattas in Australia and the USA, SailGP comes to Cowes on 10-11 August. Read on for all you need to know
COWES WEEK PREVIEW 2019 Yachts & Yachting
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COWES WEEK PREVIEW
S
ailGP visits the Isle of Wight at the start of Cowes Week on 10 and 11 August, with the F50 foiling catamarans, which are capable of 50 knots, racing close inshore off Cowes and finishing just metres off Egypt Point. The event is the penultimate regatta in the innaugural SailGP season, which has so far seen events in Sydney, San Francisco and New York. After Cowes the series final is held in Marseilles, where one team will win the $1 million first prize. Despite a dramatic capsize in New York, the GBR team of Chris Draper,
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Dylan Fletcher, Stuart Bithell, Richard Mason, Matt Gotrel and Neil Hunter are lying third overall in the series and are keen to use their knowledge of the Solent’s fickle waters to post their first series victory at SailGP’s European debut. The F50 boats are those used for the last America’s Cup in Bermuda in 2017, tweaked to create a strict onedesign fleet and now 10%-15% faster. HOW TO WATCH AFLOAT The SailGP racing will take place once official Cowes Week racing has finished, each afternoon on 10 and 11 August, so that Cowes Week
Yachts & Yachting COWES WEEK PREVIEW 2019
Above l-r Stunning fleet racing at high speed, with short races designed to appeal to a younger audience; aboard the GBR boat; race course off Cowes Below l-r Race village; the GBR boat was back in action at New York; giant screens will show the racing close-up
boats can line the SailGP race course to watch the action close-up. SailGP has also partnered with Red Funnel to offer another comfortable way to watch the racing, on board the top floor of the Red Jet, with a bar and complimentary buffet. The vessel will have screens showing live race coverage and an onboard event commentator. More details on the SailGP Cowes website. There are other companies offering spectator boat experiences to watch SailGP on the water – these companies can be found on the SailGP website. Official spectator
PHOTOS: SAILGP/MARKLLOYD
SCHEDULE boats will have a preferred viewing position on the race area perimeter. HOW TO WATCH FROM COWES For spectators ashore, a race village will be set up along the seafront from the end of Cowes Green up to Egypt Point. This will be the best place ashore to watch the racing and is a free-to-access public event, with large screens featuring interviews with the sailors, live race commentary, exhibits, food and bars to suit all tastes. Within the race village there is a SailGP grandstand, with tickets from £35 to £55, giving a reserved seat and
a premium view of the racing. Those booking a seat can come and go as they please, watching the Cowes Week starts in the morning and SailGP action in the afternoon. There will be live race coverage and commentary with a giant screen next to the seating. Ticket holders also get a 20% discount on SailGP GBR Team kit, available from the Gill online shop. YOUTH LEGACY For every ticket sold, SailGP will be donating £2 to a sailing charity for the development of opportunities for local children to access sailing.
Friday 9 August – practice day Practice racing will take place from 3pm to 4.30pm in the official race course area Saturday 10 August – race day 1 Race village open from 11am to 6.30pm Racing from 3pm to 4.30pm (three fleet races) Sunday 11 August – race day 2 Race village open from 11am to 6.30pm Racing from 3pm to 4.30pm (three fleet races will be followed by a match race final between the two highest-ranked teams) 4.40pm Prize giving at race village On both race days the stage show will be live from 11.30am, with the sailors on stage and the race boats on display in front of race village before and after racing. sailgp.com/cowes